One team that has been on an upward trajectory in the FIA WEC this year has been 2024 newcomer AKKODIS ASP, with its pair of Lexus RC F LMGT3s.
The first season in the then brand new LMGT3 class was a baptism of fire for the well-established French outfit, with decades of success behind them, in particular with Mercedes AMG. But since the 2025 campaign began, the team has found form, scoring points regularly and claiming its first class win last time out in São Paulo after its #87 crew thrived on the new Goodyear Hard compound tyres.
“Last year was tough, except Le Mans. We were quite competitive there,” Jerome Policand, the team founder, tells DSC.
“I would say last year we started the programme a bit late. And the Lexus is a bit of a unique car for the FIA WEC, because the car had to be redesigned to be in the aero window, which is not the same as that in IMSA. And that takes some time?
“So when we fired up the car in Qatar, we were there at the last minute. ”
The unique nature of the FIA WEC for a GT team then added to the challenges posed with the limited time that Akkodis ASP had to prepare.
“Because it’s a championship driven by complex logistics, because you have to travel all around the world,” Policand continues. “We never had a very quiet moment to say, ‘Okay, what is the main problem of the car. What do we need to do to make the car more competitive?’ And that was tough, because we have such a high benchmark; we’ve won championships everywhere we’ve raced recently, so we were shocked to be backmarkers for much of the season.
“We did a bit after Le Mans and again during this winter. We did two test days in Qatar after Bahrain, which was very useful. And then we concentrated this winter on straight line speed just to try to match the new aero of the car. And, to be honest, it paid off.”
The team were left to learn about the challenges of the Lexus the hard way, but that, at least, had the advantage that the problems that it needed to address were well established and understood when the opportunity did come along to tackle them head-on.
“The main problem with the car is the tyre degradation, especially when we overheat the front tyres,” the Frenchman explains.
“But in another direction, what we have tried to do is to make the cars the most competitive over one lap, which is the case this year, because we are fighting in Hyperpole every time.
“For sure, during the race is a bit more complicated, because the tyre degradation (on the Goodyear Mediums) is still there. But when you start from the front, you can more easily keep in contention to score points.”
The work the team has done in the off-season has begun to pay dividends though. It claimed third and fourth place finishes at Imola, Pole at Spa, and with the #87 crew, a fifth-place finish at Le Mans and a win in Brazil, bringing Clemens Schmid, Jose Maria Lopez and Petru Umbrarescu into championship contention, 32 points off the lead with three races to go.
“Goodyear coming with the harder compound was the key for us to take the win, usually in the second stint we lose pace and struggle to maintain positions, this time we stayed in front,” Policand explains.
And it’s not just the final stretch of the season that ASP is looking forward to. With a new GT3 car from Lexus – which is deep into its test and development programme – on the horizon, the future looks bright for the Lexus-ASP partnership in the WEC.
“To be a part of a new programme with Toyota with a new car, for sure, it’s a long-term plan,” Policand, who, along with members of his team, has assisted with the new car’s test programme in Europe, says.
“And so what we expect is now to be there for the next five years and to also help Toyota with our experience in GT World Challenge, in GT Open, in all GT Championships, to try to make the (new) car competitive, and to try to have a commercially successful car, because that’s way of GT3.”
Beyond a predictable learning process with a new car, Policand sees a different future for the forthcoming Lexus from the current RC F platform. And that could include an expansion of ASP’s efforts with the brand beyond WEC competition.
“The (current) Lexus was a much more ‘prototype’ car, with only 20-25 built over its 10-year lifetime.
“The main goal now is to be a part of the process to move forward, and so I hope it will kick off next season with a new car, and we will see what happens. But yes, it’s a long-term plan for us to help Toyota and Lexus move the effort beyond the FIA WEC in the future.”
Interlagos image courtesy of DPPI
